Chapter 4: Peter
Peter was suddenly awakened when he felt someone jostling him. He opened his eyes very slowly and saw that Niki was hovering over him. Apparently she had spent the night. Peter felt his eyes fill with tears of guilt. She could have very well gone home and went on with her life. "Did you have a nice nap?" She asked.
"Yeah I suppose so" Peter said. Strangely enough he hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep. For once he hadn't dreamt about the morgue or the cemetery. In fact he was pretty sure that he hadn't dreamt at all. The thought scared him. In a way he almost would have preferred dreaming about his death to not dreaming. "Nathan's on the phone!" Niki announced interrupting his thoughts. "Apparently there's something very important he wants to talk to you about." Peter felt very pathetic, but the whole concept of walking all the way in to the kitchen in order to answer the phone seemed like an impossible task. As a matter of fact just the concept of having a conversation over the phone seemed like an impossible task. He clutched onto his head. It hurt like crazy. "I'm really not up for talking to him" He moaned "would you mind telling him that?" Niki gave his shoulder a light squeeze. "Sure!" She said, "I'll let him know." With that she grabbed the portable phone from the kitchen. "I'm sorry" She said returning into the living room. "But Peter really doesn't feel like talking right now. Maybe you could call him back later. Okay?" She than fell silent for a while. "Uh'huh!" She finally said slowly. "Okay than!" She handed Peter the phone. Peter groaned inwardly. "Don't worry!" Niki said "Nathan understands perfectly that you don't feel like talking. And you don't have to, you can just listen. Apparently that's something you're really good at." Peter reluctantly grabbed on to the phone.
"Here's the deal Peter!" Nathan said. "I knew you weren't going to do it for yourself, so I went through the liberty of making you a doctor's appointment. You're welcome!" "You what?" Peter asked. He was in pure shock. "Friday at 1:00" Nathan said flatly. Peter felt his breathing become rapid. He took a couple of deep breaths in order to stop himself from hyperventilating. "I'm not going!" He coughed out. "You can't make me!" He slumped his body into a pouting position. "Peter listen to me" Nathan said. "If you really don't care about your own health, if you really don't care that you may be dying, than that's just fine. Because very clearly you don't give a rat's ass. I really don't understand why not, I mean after all, it is YOUR problem, but fine whatever. That certainly doesn't mean you should care." Peter slumped his body even farther into a pouting position. Who the hell did Nathan think he was? He wanted to know. He really hated his brother at that point. But for some reason he was unable to bring himself to admitting so. He didn't feel like talking in the first place anyway. He grit his teeth in anger. "You are not off the hook you know." Nathan continued. "Whether you like it or not. You ARE going to that god damn fucking doctors appointment" Peter became very silent as he often did when he was very angry. "Look" Nathan said. "I talked with mom earlier today"
"Yeah?" Peter asked apathetically. "I told her all about your attacks of muscle weakness, your low body temperature, your nightmares everything" Nathan continued
"Yeah?" Peter asked again. "She believes that she knows exactly what the diagnosis is. Get this! Obviously you're suffering from Clinical Depression. Can you believe that? I know very well that that's not the case and I'm sure you also know that that's not the case." "I'm very clinically depressed" Peter said hastily "Bye!" He was about to hang up the phone, but Nathan stopped him right away.
"Peter wait" He commanded. "Don't hang up the phone." Peter grudgingly stayed on the line. "Listen" Nathan said. "I understand about your attacks. I understand that the muscle weakness was your main complaint. That's why I made you an appointment with a doctor that specializes in disorders of the muscular system." Peter covered his face. "Oh Nathan you didn't! Please tell me you didn't" He cried. "What are you talking about Peter?" Nathan asked, "I just told you that I DID. Don't you listen? Don't you have ears? And by the way thank you would have been the polite thing to say." He scolded. "I went through a whole lot of trouble you know. It took me forever to locate the phone number, than I had to deal with the super obnoxious receptionist. Don't even make me get into that." 'Wow poor you!' Peter thought bitterly to himself. "Fine!" he said grudgingly.
"So you're going?" Nathan asked. "No!" Peter said stiffly. "I meant fine that you went through a whole lot of trouble." "Peter listen to me okay? You listening?" Nathan said. "Yes!" Peter said grudgingly "We both know very well that you are not clinically depressed. Well maybe you are, but we know that's not the problem. Do you want to prove mom wrong or not?" Peter suddenly without any warning at all burst into tears, which only proved that he had some level of clinical depression. "You don't care about me!" He sobbed. "You only care about proving Mom wrong. You couldn't care less about my health. You don't give a damn" He continued to sob bitterly.
"Peter!" Nathan said evenly, "Please don't cry! I'm really in no mood to deal with your emotion. How could you say that by the way? How could you say I don't give a damn about your health? I went through drastic measures to make this appointment, I requested time off work, I had to miss quality time with my family and miss my son's soccer game yesterday, because I was over here taking care of you. You want to know why that is? It's because I give a damn. That's why!" Peter sniffled loudly. "So!" Nathan asked, "You're going to the appointment?"
"I'll think about it!" Peter said feeling very defeated. "Good" Nathan said. "Hopefully you'll have thought about it enough by Friday. I'll be over at 12:30."
"Fine!" Peter said again, he didn't wait for Nathan to say anything else; he just hung up the phone. He noticed that Niki hadn't moved from her position. She was still standing right in front of him with her arms crossed across her chest. "All right Niki" Peter said, "How much of our conversation did you hear?" "Well basically" She said, "I heard pretty much everything from your end of the line. Enough to know that you have some kind of VERY important doctor's appointment." She squeezed his shoulders. "I know it's probably not my business or anything" Niki said, "But I think you should go!"
"Whose side are you on?" Peter moaned. Niki gave him a worried look. "Seriously?" She asked. "I'm not taking sides. I just think that if there's something wrong with you it's probably best to get it checked. That's all." Suddenly Niki's phone started going off. The sound was like orange juice to his ears. For a brief moment, he would be free from having to discuss his appointment with Niki. "You might want to get that" He said. "I was going to, I was going to" Niki said casually. "Hello!" She said. "It's Micah's camp counselor" She told Peter, then she got back on the line. "He did what? Oh my god, I'm so sorry to hear that, usually my son's so much better behaved than that. He knows better" She fell silent for a while. "Okay" She finally said, "I'll go pick him up. It's a day early but who cares right?" She angrily hung up the phone. "I'm very sorry about that" She apologized. "I have to pick Micah up from space camp a day early. He was supposed to be there for five days, not four. Apparently he was very bad. Apparently he bit another kid."
"Wow!" Peter said not knowing what else to say. "Oh well" Niki sighed heavily, "It wasn't like he was having a fun time at camp anyway. According to his camp counselor he was miserable. He wasn't talking to the other children, he was crying himself to sleep every night, he was refusing to participate in any of the activities, I'm almost surprised he made it for four out of five days" "That's better than I did my first and only time I might add at camp" Peter said, he couldn't help smiling a tiny bit at the memory. "I was so homesick that my councilor decided it would be a good idea for me to spend the night in Nathan's cabin. So I was only eight years old than okay? So I suppose she somehow decided that it wouldn't be at all intimidating for me to spend the night with a bunch of twelve year olds. I guess she assumed that Nathan was going to be protective of me. Anyway It ended up being virtually the most miserable thing ever. I'm pretty sure it ruined the first night of Nathan's camp experience as much as it ruined mine. The only reason he agreed to it in the first place was because he knew it was only going to be for one night. But apparently it made his first night at camp really boring for him, and he had been so damn excited about going with his insanely huge group of his insanely popular friends. My mom seemed to think there was something wrong with me because, I wasn't excited, nor did I have a huge group of friends, or any friends at all for that matter to go with. Anyway Nathan's friends sure as hell weren't my friends. They were not nice to me at all, and Nathan didn't even once correct their behavior. The problem was, when his friends weren't around he was very nice and protective of me, he was the ideal big brother almost," The memory brought tears to his eyes, though he couldn't quite figure out why. "But when they were all there, they all made so much fun of me for being homesick, and for being such a crybaby. All of them, including Nathan. Apparently it was VERY uncool for him to stand up for his younger brother."
"Wow!" Niki said. "That's just, that's just REALLY mean! And wow really depressing too. Kids can just be so mean. You know," She looked guilty. "I only went to camp one year and guess what! I was actually one of the mean kids." Her voice became quiet as if she were hiding a dirty secret. "My sister Jessica, a couple of our cabin mates and I were all very mean to this one girl in our cabin. I can't remember why. It was mostly Jessica and the other's who were the meanest, Jessica was pretty much the ringleader. I actually didn't think she was all that bad, but I as always I wanted to fit in with them, so I was pretty much a follower." There was something comforting Peter decided about sharing camp experiences with Niki. It almost for the time being made him forget about all his troubles. "Anyway," Niki continued "Jessica totally took advantage of the fact that I was her identical twin. One day she decided play this really mean prank on the girl. It was such a long time ago that I can't remember what the prank was. Anyway, she [Jessica] went and told everyone that I did it, which got me suspended from camp. I never went back. And I don't think Micah should ever go back either. Not to that camp anyway, not any camp for that matter. I seriously don't think he's ready for camp yet." She looked down at her watch. "Oh shit" She said "I'm probably late, and I told the counselor I'd be on my way. They're probably all wondering what's happened to me. Are you going to be all right here by yourself?"
"Yeah I suppose so." Peter said. "I won't be gone long" She promised. "I'm just going to pick up Micah and drop him off at Monica's house for a while." "He's a good kid you know" Peter said. "Huh?" Niki asked sounding a bit spaced out. "Micah" Peter said, "He's a good kid, he's just been having a lot of issues that's all. And why shouldn't he be? He did just lose his father" "Yeah I know that, but that's no excuse for biting." Niki said stiffly. Peter liked Micah, even though it was very clear that the feeling was not mutual. When it came to disliking Peter, Micah was not at all subtle. He was constantly very rude to Peter's face. He had dubbed him, 'Peter-Peter bird seed eater' after Niki told him that he ate like a bird. Peter actually found that to be very cleaver. He knew that Micah just didn't like him because he thought he 'wasn't his father and tried not to take it personal. At the same time however, it made him feel kind of sad that Micah didn't like him. He had tried so hard to be someone Micah would find likable. But no matter how hard he tried, he knew he could never be like Micah's father. Therefore he was never good enough in Micah's eyes.
"Don't punish him too hard okay?" Peter said as Niki was just about to head out the door. Niki sighed heavily. "Well he needs to know that biting is NOT okay." She said. She dropped Peter a kiss on the top of his head. "Take care of yourself" She said. She headed out the door and than turned around. "Your mom's here" She announced.
"Great" Peter moaned. "Are you sure?" "I just saw her car pull up into the driveway. Than I saw her get out, so yeah. I'm pretty sure she's here." Niki said. "So I guess that means I should be getting out of here, you know how much she can't stand me" "Could you do me a big favor," Peter asked "And tell her that I'm not here?" He buried himself under the two comforters. At that moment, he wished more than anything that he could turn invisible. "I don't think I can do that" Niki said apologetic. "I don't think she'll believe that. After all where would you have gone?"
"Good point" Peter said sounding defeated. "Could you tell her that I'm not in the mood to see her then?" He asked. "I know I've lost a ton of weight. I know I've gotten a lot skinnier, I mean look at me I'm a Friggin tooth pick. I don't want her to have to see that. She'll be so mad at me." He wrapped the comforters tightly around himself.
"Well that's just ridiculous" Niki said. "It's not like it's your fault or anything; but yeah sure, I'll tell her that you're not in the mood for visitors." "Thanks'" Peter said weakly. Just than Angela began pounding on the door. Niki got answered it right away. Peter stayed on the couch and listened to their conversation. "Nicole" Angela said disgustedly "What the HELL are you doing here?"
"Actually I was just leaving" Niki said. "Good!" Angela said. "No wonder Peter's so damn depressed, if he's hanging out with you. You're so damn depressing." Peter hung his head down hoping Niki would leave soon, before Angela tore her to shreds.
"Oh by the way," Niki said tightly "Peter told me to tell you that he's not in the mood for visitors." "Well obviously you're a visitor, so obviously he isn't NOT in the mood for visitors." "If he can deal with you being here," Angela said "Than he can definitely deal with ME being here. Now let me in" She shoved Niki out of the way. Niki gave Peter a sympathetic look, and then left. Angela walked over to the couch, and kissed Peter on the top of his head. She than stared at his comforters that were wrapped tightly around his body. "Seriously Peter it's about 90 degrees outside, you can't possibly be cold! Take off those god damn ridiculous comforters." Peter was freezing. After all his body temperature was very low. On top of that, he was not about to reveal to her what a skeleton he had become. His mother appeared so intimidating that he instantly removed the comforters. Angela's eyes became practically as wide as dinner plates.
"My god Peter!" She cried. "Your brother was not exaggerating when he said you were tooth pick thin." As she began examining Peter from head to toe, Peter felt his stomach tighten. "You've REALLY let yourself go!" She said disgustedly. "You know there are starving children in third world countries, who are so poor they can't afford any food." 'Great' Peter thought to himself. Once again Angela was going after him with another starving children rant. She kept examining him from head to toe. "You on the other hand. You have no excuse to look like this; I give you plenty of money for food. You should not have to starve. You should not be starving" He didn't feel like explaining to his mother that there was absolutely no way he was starving. How could he possibly be starving if he weren't even hungry? "That reminds me," Angela said "I have a bunch of food for you in my car. I better go get it." She handed him a book. "Why don't you read this while you're waiting, I think it will be very beneficial for you." Peter groaned inwardly when he saw what book it was. Damn book on him a couple weeks ago when he had been feeling depressed about Nathan getting shot. "Not the Atlas of Depression again" Peter moaned. "Haven't we been through this already? I'm not IN to geography."
"That's really not funny Peter" Angela said. "It wasn't funny the first time either for that matter." She dropped another kiss on the top of his head. "Enjoy your book. I'll be right back with the food. Than we can talk about stocking up your refrigerator. I made you enough food to last a month. This way you won't have to starve." She told him. Peter felt his stomach tie itself into a big knot. Or maybe it was his throat. Or possibly both. It was hard for him to tell. Either way, there was absolutely no way he was capable of eating. Who did Angela think she was ranting about starving children in third world countries? If he had his powers, he would teleport himself to each of the third world countries and give his mother's food to the starving children. Unlike him, those children actually WERE starving and really would appreciate it. Angela returned. As she promised she had a huge pile of food. The smell was making him so nauseated that he swore he was going to throw up all over the place. He took in a deep breath and tried very hard to ease the feeling. He than belched so loudly, that he startled himself as if he didn't know he was capable of making such a noise.
"PETER!" Angela snapped almost dropping everything. "What the hell happened to your manners? You're usually so polite."
Peter didn't even bother excusing himself. He just buried himself under the covers. That way he could get away from the overwhelming smell.
"Peter, you're being very ridiculous and childish" Angela snapped. She than pulled the covers down from his head. "Now why don't you take a look at what I've made for you? I've been slaving over it all morning, so you better appreciate it." Peter once again felt nauseated. He breathed heavily. "Look" He said, "I really do appreciate it and everything. It's just that I have no appetite. I seriously can't eat." Angela put her arm around him. "Look Peter" She said. "I know you feel depressed, but you need to get on with your life. I promise you, you'll feel a lot better if you start taking better care of yourself. That starts with eating. I'd feel like a really shitty parent if I let you starve yourself."
"It's not going to happen" Peter explained weakly. "I can't starve myself if I'm not even hungry." He sighed heavily. "I really wish I had my powers right now" He moaned. "Than I could teleport to Ethiopia or wherever and give this food to all the starving children."
"Look here Peter" Angela said. "I did not get up super early to make this food for the starving children in Ethiopia; I got up super early to make this food for YOU! It's not that I'm not worried about those children. It's just that it's so much more productive for me to worry about my own son." She gave him a light pat on the cheek. "Anyway Peter, you probably don't even know where Ethiopia is, you know considering the fact that you're not IN to geography. It's important to know where you're teleporting. You know?"
Peter wasn't sure why, but what his mother just said really hurt his feelings. "I do so know where Ethiopia is!" He sulked. "It's in Africa DUH! That really hurt my feelings Mom." Angela sighed heavily. "That's part of your problem" She said. "You just let your feelings get hurt WAY too easily. Anyway" She continued. "I don't think you are powerless. I think you could very well teleport if you tried. You just feel like you're powerless because you feel so depressed. You've just given up trying."
"That's not true!" Peter cried. "I've been trying almost constantly to use my healing powers. I swear they're not working. Don't you think I want to get rid of my muscle weakness? In fact right now I'm feeling really desperate, you see, Nathan really wants me to see a doctor who specializes in disorders of the muscular system. He went right behind my back and made the appointment for me. That prick" He clenched his teeth in anger and noticed that his mother did the same thing. "Listen" She said. "The only doctor you need to see is a head doctor."
"Ouch!" Peter moaned. "That really hurt. "Face it Peter!" Angela said, her voice sounded sad. "You have serious psychological problems. I promise you everything you're feeling right now is most definitely psychologically based. Depression is a very serious condition you know. It's amazing what it can do to your health.
"I know Depression" Peter said. "As you know. I've been there. Lot's of times as a matter of fact." He looked directly into Angela's eyes "I swear." He said "This is different. I always feel weak and tired when I get depressed, but I've never felt this kind of weakness. I've never had attacks before. And usually I don't lose my powers." Angela continued staring at him, she didn't say a word but she continued to examine him from head to toe with her eyes. "You seriously need to eat." She finally said. Her voice was full of disgust. She continued staring. It was making him increasingly uncomfortable.
"Shut up!" He suddenly snapped. Angela looked shocked.
"I beg your pardon?" She cried. "Shut up?"
"You heard me" Peter said apathetically "Don't you even think about taking your misery out on me!" Angela snapped "You know very well that this is not my fault. I don't think I've been anything but supportive." Peter rolled his eyes in exasperation. Who was she kidding? She had been ANYTHING but supportive. He was beginning to think that she hadn't heard a single word he said. "Listen" Angela said. "If you really feel like taking your misery out on someone, take it out on that girl you keep hanging around with. That Nicole. She's seriously just adding to your problems. I swear the girl is no good."
"I like Niki" Peter said lamely. "You could do so much better" Angela said. Shaking her head. "I really liked that girl Simone you were with. It's such a shame that she died. She was such a good girl. So smart, so educated. I could not say any of the same things about Nicole. She is not smart, nor is she educated and she certainly is not a good girl, in fact she is one of the most depressing human beings I have ever met. I think that you'll feel a whole lot better right away if you stop seeing her. She's bringing you down and you know it."
"I like her" Peter said stubbornly.
"Peter listen to me okay? She's really bad for you" Angela said shaking her head. "Anyway enough about her!" She said. "Now what were we talking about before we got on the subject of HER? Oh yes. You seriously need to eat something"
"I will later!" Peter said hastily. "You can leave if you'd like. Bye!"
"I think not" Angela said. "I know you all too well Peter. I know you're not going to eat anything later. You're probably going to shove all my food, that I slaved over all morning into the very back of your refrigerator and then forget all about it until it goes bad." She folded her arms across her chest and gave him a look of disapproval. "I'm not going anywhere until you eat something" She said. "Am I going to have to force feed you?" He was surprised that she even wanted to force feed him, considering the fact that the last time she tried that, he practically bit her hand off. His throat continued to close up. Even when he wasn't experiencing muscle weakness, his throat always tended to close up when his mother watched him eat. It made him that uncomfortable. It was in fact the big reason why he took such a long time to finish eating. Even when he tried hard to avoid looking at her while he was eating, he could always feel her eyes on him even when he knew very well that she wasn't there, that always happened to him. He shook his head. The thought of being force fed by his sentinel of a mother seemed increasingly unbearable beyond belief. "No" He said instantly. "You aren't going to have to force feed me."
"Fine" Angela said. "But I am going to sit here and watch you eat. I'm not going anywhere." Now Peter knew he was stuck. "You can go ahead and take a bit of everything." Angela reminded him. The wave of nausea once again swept over him.
"Seriously Mom" He cried. "You're torturing me! Stop it!" He covered his face.
"Don't be silly" Angela said.
"You don't understand" Peter moaned. "I can't eat. I just can't. It's just not possible. I'm physically incapable" He really hoped his mother would be understanding the way Nathan and Niki had been, but then again who was he kidding? There was no way in Hell that Angela would even try to be understanding. "Seriously Peter!" She said throwing back her head in exasperation. "You need to get yourself out of this negative state of mind. This 'I can't' attitude, this everything's impossible attitude, This 'I'm physically incapable' attitude" She shook her head. "It has got to stop." She than smiled a tiny bit. "It's all in the book" She said patting down on 'The Atlas Of Depression!' "Everything we've talked about is in this book. If you read it you'll see what I mean. It offers all kinds of advice about getting out of your kind of state of mind. It's a great book for you." It seemed like Angela had read the entire book from start to finish before giving it to him. It made him wonder if his mother had a life of her own. That thought in itself made him feel even more depressed than he was already feeling. His depression suddenly turned to rage. He opened the book and tore the title page right out. It surprised him how much he loved the sound of the paper shredding. It was such a powerful sound. Orange juice to his ears in fact. For a split second he somehow felt powerful again. Even though most of his body was weak, his left hand still felt very strong. And that was all the strength he needed to accomplish that victory. Angela gasped loudly. Paying no attention Peter began tearing out another page, and than another. Before he knew it he was recklessly tearing the book to shreds. Doing so, he actually felt a strange satisfaction, knowing that that damn book was getting destroyed. He was halfway through the book when Angela suddenly grabbed on to his shoulders and began shaking him. "Peter STOP!" She cried. She than yanked the book from his hands. "Are you crazy?" She wanted to know. "Look at what you've gone and done! That was NOT okay!" She cried. She was practically on the verge of tears. "That is a LIBRARY book!" She moaned, hugging it close to her. "It is?" Peter asked. Just like that, all his rage was replaced by guilt. He also for some unexplainable reason felt the muscle weakness finally catch up to his hand. He let it drop limply to his side. "Yes Peter!" She said angrily. "As a matter of fact yes it is"
"I'm sorry Mom!" Peter cried. "I honestly didn't know."
"You honestly didn't realize that this book happens to be a library book?" Angela snapped in disbelief. She than opened up the book cover. "See that?" She asked pointing to what looked like nothing more than a big white sticker. "That happens to be the public library bar code, which means it's most definitely a library book. It's pretty hard to miss that wouldn't you think?"
Peter nodded his head slowly. He was too miserable to speak. He bit down hard on the insides of his cheeks. "And to make matters worse I paid for it with my library card. MINE. So now that means that I'm going to have to be the one to pay for the damage. And I went through all the trouble. It was actually supposed to only be a seven day book. But I had to renew it for you because I realized that you were feeling depressed again and I thought it would help you. And it was already a week overdue" She threw back her head in exasperation "You are just so unappreciative" She cried. Her voice was filled with disgust. This was not news at all to Peter. He had already heard that he was unappreciative that day from Nathan, because he didn't absolutely marvel at the idea of seeing a specialist in muscular disorders. 'Twice in one day.' He moaned to himself. For once it seemed that Nathan and his mother were in the same frame of mind. Though they didn't agree on most things. There was one thing they could both agree on. And that was the fact that Peter was unappreciative. He once again bit down on the insides of his cheeks. It was such an unfair assessment. It wasn't like he had asked for either of the things they went through all the trouble to get for him. They certainly didn't have to go through any of the trouble. "I don't think you're being fair!" Peter said sulkily. "It's not fair of you to show up here uninvited, with all this stuff that I don't want and than expect me to be all appreciative."
"Uninvited?" Angela asked, once again sounding hurt. "I'm family, I shouldn't have to be invited" She once again grabbed on to his shoulders. "Especially not when I know very well that something's wrong. I had one of my prophetic dreams you know, but it was very unspecific. About as unspecific as you can get in fact."
"So you assumed that it meant I'm clinically depressed?"
"You know what Peter?" She asked. "Just go to that doctor's appointment on Friday. I'm can promise you that any doctor can tell you just as well as I can tell you, that there is absolutely nothing wrong with your muscles. It's all in your head. It's all psychosomatic." She sounded, just like how Peter imagined, the book sounded. It was really making him cringe.
"That's not true!" He snapped. "It is NOT just in my head. It's real!"
"Well now you sound just like your brother!" Angela groaned. "How do you even know it's real if you haven't even gotten it tested." Peter said nothing. "That's exactly what I thought!" Angela said. You don't know that it's not just in your head."
"I'll tell you what's not in my head!" Peter said boldly. "The fact that my powers are gone is not in my head. They're most definitely gone!" Angela got up from the couch. "Damnit Mom!" Peter cried. "Where are you going?"
"I'm through having this conversation!" Angela said. "I'm not an idiot you know; I can tell that I'm unappreciated here." Peter was beginning to feel heavy with guilt. "Look" He said. "I'm sorry, please don't leave. I really do appreciate everything."
Angela spun around. "Well you know you sure had a funny way of showing your appreciation!"